The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin.
Ver. 12. The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps] i.e. That which might have been enough and spare, but that they were unsatiable. So covetous they were and ravenous, that their posy might have been, Totus non sufficit orbis; their desire of more was enlarged as hell; greedy lions they were, that could never have enough, Isaiah 56:11. As a ship may be overladen with gold and silver, even unto sinking, and yet have compass and sides enough to hold ten times more; so the cormorants and covetous wretches of this world though they have enough to sink them, yet never have they enough to satisfy them.
And strangled for his lionesses] i.e. For his wives and concubines, by whom they were commanded, being captivarum suarum captivi, as Plutarch saith of the Persian kings; slaves to their she-slaves, whom they enriched and adorned with the spoils of the subdued nations. Cicero, in his fifth action against Verres, saith that the kings of Persia and Syria (think the same of Assyria), as they had many wives, so they would bestow upon them whole cities for their maintenance. Antiochus, King of Syria, gave two fair cities to his concubine, 2Ma 4:30. Antony gave all Egypt to Cleopatra. Henry II of France gave to Diana Valentina all the confiscation of goods made in the kingdom for cause of heresy, A.D. 1554, which caused the burning of many good people. Utinam hodie non essent leaenae, saith Calvin here: It were to be wished there were not today lionesses, that can of themselves strangle and devour; but we see that there are some women that exceed all men in impudence and cruelty. The queen mother, he meant, in all likelihood, as Beza did her cruel son, Charles IX, author of the massacre, in that verse of his, made upon that new star in Cassiopeia, 1572:
“ Tu vero Herodes sanguinolente time. ”
“Truly you are Herod by bloody fear.”
And filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin] His palaces with treasure, his coffers with cash, raked together by evil arts and oppressive practices. What else was the whole Assyrian empire but a great thievery? Alexander the Great was told to his teeth, that he was the greatest thief in the world. And was not Julius Caesar such another? who said, that for a kingdom's sake right might be violated? and who robbed his country of her liberty for the satisfying of his unlawful desire of ruledom? But for whom all this? surely for those that never thanked them for anything, but fought for their spoil.